basil just cut from the garden or bought in the produce section of the grocery makes delicious pesto
Basil is easy to grow. The secret is watering with some seaweed emulsion fertilizer. If you don’t garden you can pick up fresh basil or even a plant at the grocery store and make pesto fresh at home. It’s *so* much better than jarred pesto.
As to basil’s health benefits: it’s soothing to the digestive and nervous systems. It can ease gas, stomach cramps, and nausea. It can be helpful for fatigue, depression, and nervous irritability. Full of antioxidants, it’s been shown to support healthy blood sugar, heart and vascular health, immunity, and cognitive ability. A delicious food that’s great for your health – truly food as medicine.
It’s easy to make Pesto with or without nuts. For that matter, the french make something very similar, Pistou, that omits the cheese and the nuts and focuses on the garlic and the basil. So you can make this sauce in whatever way you please. Here’s a variation recipe:
a blender full of fresh basil (blanched or not, optional)
2-4 bulbs of garlic, roasted.
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 c parmesan or romano cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper.
optional – pine nuts or walnuts
Roast garlic by putting unpeeled bulbs in a toaster oven or toaster and toasting at 350 until the peels are starting to brown.
Roasting the garlic really adds a warm, nutty flavor to the pesto that I love.
To make your pesto place the basil in the blender with the roasted garlic, cheese, salt and pepper, lemon juice, and nuts, and blend away.
Delicious on pasta, toast, chicken, sandwiches, whatever… And so good for you.
Fire cider is great for your immune system, leveraging garlic, onions, ginger, horseradish, cayenne, honey, and apple cider vinegar.
Healthful tonics like this one have been around and in use since ancient times — our ancestors knew what was good! In the 1970s, Rosemary Gladstar, a wonderful herbalist, coined the term “Fire Cider” and it stuck. The recipe is below – feel free to scroll down directly.
Fire ciders are popular; there are many recipes out there. A simple one: chop onions and garlic and grate horseradish and ginger, and add it all to apple cider vinegar, ensuring the roots are submerged. Let them stew, shaking daily for 3-4 weeks, and add cayenne and honey to taste (this basic recipe comes from Rosemary Gladstar’s herbalism certificate through ecoversity).
Whipping up a healthful potion is always fun, and It would be hard to overstate the value of Garlic, ginger, onion, and horseradish roots combined with apple cider vinegar, for good health:
Garlic: An ally against colds and flu, support for immune function, healthy cholesterol, and a vermifuge/in treating intestinal worms.
Ginger: Reduction of inflammation, joint pain, cramps, nausea, and morning sickness.
Horseradish: traditionally known for its power to clear your sinuses, horseradish is full of antioxidants and nutrients, antibacterial properties, and is good support for healthy metabolism, digestive health, healthy cholesterol and, of course, as a decongestant.
Onions: Rich in antioxidants and packed with flavor, WebMD says “They’re rich in chemicals that can help protect your heart, lower your risk of some cancers, and make it easier for your body to make insulin. Onions are also one of the greatest vegetable sources of quercetin, a plant compound with many health benefits.”
I think fire cider is fun to make. I’ve been cooking with garlic, ginger, onion, and cayenne for years–all are aromatic and lend food an irresistible flavor profile … but horseradish was a new acquaintance when I first made fire cider. Grating it releases volatile compounds and a pungent, strong aroma that was unmistakably familiar as an ingredient in winter and fall sauces.
I had to hunt around to find fresh horseradish; if you see it at the grocery grab it! It’s a cold hardy perennial that you can also consider growing.
I love having a remedy on hand for days when I or a family member feel a cold coming on – and fire cider does the trick. Tough love in a jar, you can take a teaspoon every day to support your immune system or use it on salads.
And keep it on hand! You’ll want to take 1-2 tablespoons at the first sign of a cold and repeat every 3-4 hours until symptoms subside.
Basic Recipe:
1/2 cup grated fresh horseradish root
1/2 cup (or more) chopped onions
1/4 cup (or more) grated ginger
1/4 cup or more chopped garlic
Apple Cider Vinegar (raw and organic if you can get it)
Cayenne pepper (fresh chopped or powder or flaked – whatever you have/can get)
honey to taste
Directions – add the horseradish, onions, ginger, and garlic to a jar and pour the apple cider over it to immerse the ingredients by a couple of inches. Seal and store in a warm spot. Let it macerate for 3-6 weeks and shake it
Backyard Botanics 